


The 4th Christmas

by thelastnorthernlights



Category: Home Alone (Movies), The Sixth Sense (1999)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Minor Character Death, Pining, Roommates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:14:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28438206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelastnorthernlights/pseuds/thelastnorthernlights
Summary: Four Christmases in the lives of our boys.AKA the college roommate AU literally nobody asked for.
Relationships: Kevin McCallister/Cole Sear
Comments: 50
Kudos: 23





	1. The First Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mia6363](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mia6363/gifts), [reapersun](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reapersun/gifts).



> Okay. So. There are going to be 4 chapters of this, one for each Christmas. The chapters are all complete, I just have to edit them. They'll be up as soon as possible. I really wanted to get this up before Christmas, but, well... *gestures at world* 
> 
> Also FYI, this has been sitting in my brain since I first read Fun, Thrilling, and Rip-Roarin' Good Time by mia6363, which in turn was inspired by the awesome comic by ReaperSun. So please consider this a Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate if not Christmas) gift for those two. Because this pairing has been living rent-free in my brain ever since I read the fic and the comic. So here you go, a present you never asked for from someone you don't know. Ta da.

Kevin loved Christmas. 

It was like stating that water was wet or that the earth went around the sun. It was just a fact. Undeniable, rock-solid, fact. 

It was also the first thing that Cole learned about Kevin when they first met four years ago when Cole moved into the dorms and had gotten Kevin as his roommate. 

He’d been nervous about going away to college, especially when he’d learned which dorm they’d planned on putting him in. Everyone who described it to him expected him to be impressed. “It was from when the college was first founded,” they told him. “One of the original buildings donated by the founder’s family.” “It was classic,” they told him, “historical. But don’t worry, it has been fully updated. You’ll have all the comforts of home.” Cole didn’t know how to tell them that it wasn’t the amenities he was worried about. Because _old_ to him didn’t mean _classic_ , it meant _haunted_. And yeah, newer buildings could be haunted too, people could die anywhere, but the older ghosts were always the most set in their ways. They didn’t like change. So those updates they kept telling him about? The ghosts probably weren’t big fans. 

But as luck would have it, even though there were more than a few ghosts wandering the halls of the dorm itself, Cole's room wasn’t haunted. Which, when he motioned silently to his mom, giving her the “all clear” signal they’d agreed on in the car ride there, was greeted with a huge smile and a double thumbs-up. 

At the time, he’d been torn between being relieved that his new roommate hadn’t arrived yet (and therefore wasn’t witness to his mom’s dorky reaction), and nerves over meeting the guy he’d be rooming with for the rest of the school year, wishing he could just get their meeting over with. It wasn’t like he was expecting them to be best friends—Cole didn’t really have one of those or any friends in general, really, he’d always been a bit too shy and weird for that—but he at least wanted to know what he was getting into. 

He’d spent countless hours trying to picture his new roommate, but in his wildest imaginings, he’d never once even gotten close to picturing Kevin McCallister.

Kevin McCallister, who burst into the room at thirteen minutes past midnight, his blond hair all spiked up with gel, a patch of scruff on his jaw, thick black-rimmed glasses, and a graphic t-shirt featuring the familiar face of the Grinch underneath his plaid shirt. Kevin McCallister, who scanned the room with all-seeing eyes and lasered-in on Cole with a wide smirk spreading across his face as Cole scrambled to make sure the blanket covered everything important. It wasn’t that he was naked under the blankets or anything—that would come later. Much, much later—but for some reason, his gut reaction was to make sure he wasn’t totally exposed. That’s what Kevin McCallister did to him, apparently. He made Cole feel exposed. 

“Hey, man, you must be Cole. I’m Kevin, Kevin McCallister,” he said, striding into the room, holding his hand out to Cole to shake, even as Cole was scrambling to sit up in his bed. Cole had blinked up at him owlishly, but he’d shaken his new roommate’s hand, the words “do you know what time it is?” dying on his tongue before they could be uttered because that was when he realized they weren’t alone. Because behind Kevin there were probably a dozen other people, all dragging in his stuff. 

But as though Kevin had read his mind—a power that Cole couldn’t exactly disprove the existence of, especially considering his own so-called power, he shook his head with a laugh and said “sorry about the late arrival. My family was so excited about the thought of getting me out of the house for the next eight months, that they left without me and didn’t realize it until they were halfway here.”

Cole blinked up at him, trying to make the words that Kevin had just uttered actually make sense.

“Your family… Left. Without you?” the last part came out like a question, but instead of shaking his head and correcting Cole as he’d expected, Kevin just threw his head back and laughed, even as most of his family groaned behind him. 

“Don’t worry, man. It’s not the first time, and it won’t be the last. Anyway, sorry about the late hour, but it’s nice to meet you, Cole.”

“Yeah,” Cole said, half wondering if he was still asleep. “You too, Kevin.”

It wasn’t until the next morning when Cole woke up for the second time that he realized that no, it wasn’t just some kind of weird fever dream. Instead, he awoke to see his new roommate perched on his own bed, eating what looked like cold cheese pizza straight out of the box for breakfast. This was a sight that, over the next few years, became so familiar to Cole that it started to feel like home. 

But that first morning, blinking at his roommate through sleep-crusted eyes, that was when Cole first learned the undeniable fact that Kevin loved Christmas. Because there he was, devouring slice after slice, wearing a graphic t-shirt with the Grinch on it as part of his pajamas. 

It was a different Grinch shirt that he’d been wearing when he’d arrived last night.

“You… uh… you really like the Grinch, huh?” Cole had managed to stumble through that statement only feeling a little like his face was going to burst into flames. Kevin had blinked up at him, confusion on his face, and then he’d looked down and burst into laughter. Then he looked back up at Cole through his glasses, and, seeing all the warmth behind that gaze, Cole found he couldn’t do anything but smile back. 

That was how it started. Their friendship, and eventually their relationship. And over the next few years, Cole learned more than he’d ever thought possible about Kevin McCallister. He learned that he didn’t like any pizza other than plain cheese, which he ate whenever he felt like it (which was a _lot_ ). He learned that Kevin was terrible at packing, that his family was huge and loud and forgetful and insane. And that, like Cole himself, was weirdly obsessed with true-crime. But he wasn’t like Cole who liked to read up on various murders—because when it came to ghosts, forewarned _was_ forearmed, and all that—but was very specifically interested in this duo of failed and jailed cat burglars, who called themselves the Wet Bandits, who he read up on to the point of obsession. 

But above all else, Cole learned that Kevin loved Christmas. 

Which, to be fair, was mostly due to the fact that Kevin A) was probably the least subtle person alive, and B) had flat-out told him. 

Kevin lasted maybe a week after they first met, during which the only Christmas-related things that came to light were the Grinch shirts and the string of twinkle lights he’d put up around his desk. Which, in and of itself wasn’t all that unusual, there were probably a dozen girls in their dorm who’d done the same thing. And yeah, their twinkle lights were white and delicate whereas Kevin’s were the classic Christmas multicolored and were big enough that they’d probably originally been outdoor lights, but Cole hadn’t thought all that much of it until he’d come home one night after his late class to find Kevin pacing the small amount of floor space in their dorm room like a man possessed. The door hadn’t even fully shut behind Cole when Kevin had whirled around mid-pace to look at him and had basically just blurted out “look, I love Christmas, okay?”

“Oh…Kay…?” Cole hadn’t meant it to be a question at the time, but it had definitely come out that way, because what had prompted _that_? (He learned later that Kevin had been on the phone with his mother, who was fully aware of Kevin’s predilections towards Christmas and had taken the pains to try to warn her youngest son that his level of holiday enthusiasm might not be all that appreciated by his new roommate.)

But Kevin had gone on to explain, to clarify, really, that his love for Christmas meant that as soon as Halloween was over, Kevin wanted to decorate. (And by decorate, Cole found out later, Kevin meant that he wanted their dorm room to look like Santa and every one of his toy-making elves had thrown up in there.)

Cole had stood there, trying to picture exactly what Kevin was planning on doing in their small space (with half his mind still caught on the plight of the ghost that kept sitting next to him in his Psych 101 class, the one that wore a poodle skirt and kept making mooney-eyes at the professor, who had to be eighty if he was a day) when he noticed that Kevin was shifting from foot to foot, and realized that for the first time since he’d met him, his roommate was _nervous_. 

So he did what any good roommate would do. He told Kevin that it was fine, that he could decorate their room however he wanted, so long as there weren’t any singing decorations or flashing lights going off in the middle of the night. And the smile that had spread across Kevin’s face in response had been so wide, so blinding that Cole’s heart did a weird little skip that he didn’t have time to parse before he found himself wrapped up in a huge bear hug. And then all he could think was _Oh_. Oh _no_. Because apparently, he had a crush on his roommate. 

That had been the first Christmas. Kevin kitting their dorm room out to the nines with enough holiday lights that their R.A. had actually told them to take some of them down because the faculty was starting to worry that they had a fire hazard on their hands. 

But all in all, things had been normal. Well, normal for Kevin’s level of Christmas cheer, at least. He’d decorated and played Christmas songs starting the day after Halloween and didn’t stop until they were well into the new year. But it was fun. It got Cole into the Christmas spirit in a way he hadn’t been since he was a little kid, before his dad had moved out. 

But weirdly, when the Christmas holidays came, it was almost like a light in Kevin had started to dim, like he was worried about something. About what, Cole didn’t know and wasn’t sure how to ask. And Kevin didn’t volunteer any answers. But Cole watched out of the corner of his eye, trying to figure out exactly what was going on with his roommate as Kevin started checking those true-crime forums and news sites more and more, until he was basically spending all of his free time online. By the time classes let out for the semester, Cole still wasn’t sure what was wrong, so he just smiled at his roommate, gave him a hug, and went home for Christmas. 

And that had been that. When he got back to the dorms in the new year, Kevin seemed back to his normal self, and he started checking the forums less and less, instead spent his time regaling Cole with stories of his huge, crazy family. 

“You sound like you really miss them,” Cole said, digging into the huge tin of leftover Christmas cookies that Kevin had brought back with him, even though he knew he shouldn’t. He’d put on the freshman fifteen already and they were only halfway through the school year. 

But Kevin just nudged the tin towards him, giving Cole a lopsided smile. “I do,” he said. “But it’s kinda nice just being alone. With you, I mean,” he clarified hastily. 

And it _was_ nice, Cole realized, not to be the only one whose cheeks heated at that. If they were anyone else, they probably would have leaned in right then, closed the distance between them, and kissed for the first time. But they weren’t anyone else, they were Kevin McCallister and Cole Sear.

It wasn’t until a year later that they had their first kiss.


	2. The Second Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sophmore Year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys! You have no idea how happy I am that you're enjoying my little story! Thank you so much for reading and for leaving such lovely comments. They mean so much to me.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this little peek into the lives of our boys. And Happy New Year to you all! May 2021 be wonderful enough to put 2020 behind us.
> 
> Enjoy!

The second Christmas, for all that things had changed in a year, was still a lot like the first. 

They were sophomores now, and Cole and Kevin had remained roommates, though they had moved out of the dorms into an apartment building about a thirty-minute bus ride from campus. It was a pretty fancy place, all things considered, and would normally have been _way_ out of Cole’s price range. But Kevin had never let little things like money or how much things cost get in his way. As far as Cole could tell, Kevin’s family was loaded, and Kevin had offered to pay the bulk of the rent when he’d suggested moving in together at the end of freshman year. Normally, Cole would have bristled at that, thinking that he was being offered charity. Or even worse, pity. But the way Kevin had looked at him at the end of their first year--when they were both stressed and harried with their upcoming exams--when he asked about maybe, possibly moving in together, all big blue eyes behind his thick-rimmed glasses, well… Any arguments Cole might have considered had died unsaid on his tongue. 

Besides, he wanted to stay with Kevin. He pretty much _always_ wanted to stay with Kevin. So he’d agreed. And even though continuing to live with Kevin meant he never really got a chance to breathe or make his heart stop racing, well... it was still worth it.

The fact that the apartment building was brand new and was probably the least haunted building Cole had ever set foot in had been a big plus, to be honest, but after he’d gotten over that unexpected bonus, his favorite thing about the place was just how much more room Kevin had to decorate for the holidays. Because apparently the top to bottom decorating of their dorm room? That had been Kevin _reigning himself in_. He had no such qualms with their apartment. It was a great big blank canvas and apparently, Kevin was the Christmas decoration artist of the century. 

It wasn’t until they were well into December (over a month after Kevin had started his decorating extravaganza) that Cole realized that the building association had some kind of weird rule about decorating their balconies with Christmas lights and their front doors with wreaths--namely, that they _weren't supposed to do it_ \--but apparently Kevin had convinced his dad to more or less bribe them into letting Kevin decorate the way he wanted to. Which he did. 

And apparently, Kevin wanted to decorate _everything_. They were probably the only two-bedroom apartment in the entire building who had three full Christmas trees put up--one in the living room, one in Kevin’s bedroom, and, inexplicably, one tucked in the hallway right by their front door--as well as holly and garland and lights and candles on every surface imaginable. 

Cole would be lying to himself if he tried, even for a second, to deny that he hoped that all the decorations meant that maybe, just possibly, Kevin was trying to catch him under the mistletoe. But his hopes were dashed as, as they got closer and closer to the Christmas break, no mistletoe appeared. And even worse, just like last year, the closer they got to the holidays, the weirder Kevin started acting.

It started off so slowly that, if Cole hadn’t had the weirdness of _last_ Christmas permanently embedded in his mind, he might not have noticed. 

It was little things at first. Hearing his roommate tossing and turning in the middle of the night in a way that could only mean nightmares through the shared wall of their bedrooms. Then the tossing and turning stopped and Cole had a brief moment of relief, thinking that everything would finally be okay.

Then the pacing of the hallways began. 

Cole could hear the tell-tale sounds of Kevin walking through their apartment. Back and forth. Back and forth. And the hesitation that always followed as he passed by Cole’s door. Cole wondered sometimes if he should get up, but the couple times he’d tried asking Kevin about how his night went during breakfasts had always resulted in Kevin freezing, spoon piled high with cereal that was more sugar than actual cereal trembling in his fingers, panic flashing behind his eyes as he quickly answered “fine” before stuffing the spoonful in his mouth like a chipmunk, ending the conversation before it even got a chance to start. 

So, not knowing what else to do, Cole let it slide. 

The only problem was, as they got closer to the holidays, Kevin just got worse, and it got harder and harder for Cole to pretend that he couldn’t see that something was wrong. Kevin started getting antsier and antsier until one night he slammed his laptop shut with a snarl, which was then followed up by Kevin pacing the halls of their apartment, but now in the daytime, as though he was waiting for something to happen. 

But whatever it was, it just never came. 

Cole had tried once and only once more to ask about it while Kevin was pacing. That had been a mistake. Because it resulted in Kevin stopping so suddenly he almost went careening into the life-sized plastic snowman that had taken up residence in the corner of their kitchen. He’d looked so panicked and wired behind the eyes as he’d quickly blurted out “Nothing!” that Cole had made the decision once and for all to just let it go. If Kevin wanted him to know what was wrong, he’d tell him. After all, they were best friends. He’d tell him. Cole was sure of it. But judging by the way things were going, that wouldn’t happen until Kevin managed to calm down, at least a little bit. 

But he didn’t calm down. If anything he got more and more nervy as they got closer and closer to Christmas, sitting on the edge of the couch, his knee bouncing up and down so quickly he was practically vibrating with tension. And Cole just… sat there. 

Kevin was the best friend he’d ever had, and there was nothing in the world that Cole was willing to do to risk losing that. Which was honestly why, even though they’d known and lived with each other and been best friends for nearly a year and a half at that point, Cole still hadn’t mentioned the whole hey-so-I-can-see-ghosts thing to Kevin. Which, to be fair, he really didn’t exactly go around telling people, his mother being the one exception to that rule, but still. He liked Kevin. More than that, he _liked_ Kevin, and if there was anyone in the world he wanted to tell his secret, it was Kevin. 

Except… how could he? Kevin would never believe him. And why should he? It was crazy. It wasn’t something that people did.

So Cole kept his secret. And he let Kevin keep his.

Then Christmas came, and Kevin left for home. Apparently, his family was going to Paris for the holidays, to visit his aunt and uncle who lived there, but they would be all leaving together from their home in Chicago. Cole had asked Kevin once if France was nice, since he’d never been, and Kevin had smiled a strange little smile and said he’d never been either. But before Cole could ask--since he’d been absolutely certain Kevin had said that they were going _back_ to Paris, so that didn’t make any sense--Kevin had pulled out his phone and asked if he wanted to order pizza, ending the conversation before it had a chance to begin. 

But there they were, Kevin heading home and then to Paris, and Cole going back to his mom’s place in Philadelphia, leaving their decked-out, Christmas-themed apartment all empty and alone for the holidays. And Cole still hadn’t managed to work up the courage to corner Kevin under the mistletoe. Not that he’d noticed any mistletoe in their apartment, and he’d looked for it. At length. But somehow that was the only holiday decoration that Kevin hadn’t put up in the apartment. Cole had been more than a little disappointed about that. But far outweighing his disappointment was his worry for Kevin. Ever since the laptop-slamming-incident--the _second_ one, the one that happened in the middle of the bustling college library and had startled one of the stressed-out grad students who’d been studying nearby nearly to tears, Kevin had been on edge, seemingly more and more each night. Until finally on the night he left he dragged Cole into what was easily the longest hug they’d ever had. Possibly the longest hug Cole had ever had in his entire life.

Lost in the desperate feeling of not wanting to let go, all Cole could do was hold on for as long as he could. Hold on and hope that his friend would be okay when he got back after the holidays.

And somehow, he was. 

When Cole got back to their apartment on December 31st, just in time for them to spend New Year's Eve together, Kevin had practically done an about-face and was back to being the guy that Cole knew and lov— 

No, he wasn’t thinking about that. Not yet.

But it was like somehow, the holiday had gently but firmly unloaded every last bit of weight off of Kevin’s shoulders, and he wasn’t just back to normal, he was good as new. Better, even. Happy and excited and loving every bit of life. And on top of that, he seemed to want Cole around for every single amazing second of it. 

Cole had been so busy basking in Kevin’s happiness that he’d almost missed the cues he’d look back on later and laugh to himself. But he sure hadn’t missed it when the clock had struck midnight and Kevin had leaned in and kissed him. Their first kiss. The one that changed everything.

But maybe it hadn’t. Because they were still Cole and Kevin. Kevin and Cole. Only now, together, they were so much better.

He figured out what happened later, of course, it was only a matter of time. And when that happened, he realized that all the things Kevin had told him that night and in all the nights that followed had all been little slivers of Kevin’s big secret. But those little nuggets of truth had all been told to him in ways that hadn’t pinged his radar at all. Hadn't made him sit up and take notice. They were just offhand comments here and there, about Kevin’s engineering projects and how his interest in true-crime had shifted focus, turning more to entertainment than an obsession. 

Honestly, the biggest thing, the one that _should_ have tipped Cole off that something _had_ happened was the fact that apparently Kevin had been accidentally forgotten on his family’s annual Christmas trip to France. _Again_. 

He’d told Cole about it laughing, telling him about how his mother had freaked out in the Paris airport and had been almost ready to commandeer an entire plane to turn around and go back for him, but he’d just laughed over the phone at her and told her it was okay. That he’d survive. He always did. Kevin told Cole about how he’d had to swear up and down that the house would still be in one piece when they got home, which they did, right after Christmas. 

Cole had felt so, so bad when Kevin had told him all of this. Truly awful. Because the thought of Kevin— _Kevin_ , who loved Christmas more than basically anyone loved anything else in the entire world—being alone on the holiday, well it just made Cole’s stomach turn. 

“Why didn’t you call me?” He finally asked, curled up on the couch with Kevin. “You could’ve come out to Philly, spent Christmas with me and my mom.”

“Aw, Cole,” Kevin cooed, turning around in his arms so that they were now laying on the couch, chest to chest, “You don’t have to worry about me. You know I’m used to it.”

But it wasn’t _worry_. Not really. He knew Kevin, and Kevin would always be fine no matter what situation you put him in. There was just something about Kevin’s personality that gave him the ability to bounce back from anything. Sometimes he wondered what Kevin had been like as a kid. The total opposite of Cole, probably. Because Kevin was brave and confident and sure of himself, whereas Cole was introverted, nervous, and always afraid he’d do the wrong thing. And as a kid, he’d been a hundred times worse. Would Kevin have seen the terrified kid Cole had been and still wanted to be friends with him? Would they have still ended up where they were now, lounging lazily on their couch in each other’s arms, if they’d started in the same place?

“I just…” Cole took a deep breath and forced the words out. “I just don’t like the thought of you being alone on Christmas. I know how much you love it.”

Kevin had gazed at him, long enough that Cole was starting to tense up, thinking that he’d said something wrong, but then Kevin had smiled at him, a softer smile than Cole had ever seen on him, and he’d leaned forward and pressed his lips to Cole’s.

“How about this?” He said later when he’d pulled back, reaching down to link his fingers through Cole’s. “The next time it happens, I promise I’ll call you, okay? And we’ll spend it together.”

The next time it happens, Kevin had said. Not _if it happens again_. What even WAS Kevin’s life where he just got used to being forgotten again and again and just thought it was funny?

But then Kevin’s question sunk in, and Cole couldn’t help the small smile that started pulling at his lips. 

“Yeah?” he asked. “You’d spend Christmas with me in Philly?”

“Philly. Chicago. Hawaii. Wherever you want.” Kevin rubbed the tip of his nose against Cole’s, sending a wave of warmth through his entire body. 

“I don’t know,” Cole had said, his voice teasing. “Hawaii doesn’t sound all that Christmassy to me.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll show you how to decorate a palm tree.” Kevin said, leaning into Cole for another kiss. “I’ve got experience.”

When he’d pulled back when the kiss came to its natural end, soft and sweet and filled with the promise of more, he’d looked up into Kevin’s eyes, loving how they crinkled at the corners behind his glasses, and it was on the tip of his tongue to ask “what changed?” and “why are you so happy?” But then the corner of Kevin’s mouth had quirked up and Cole found himself leaning back in for another kiss, his questions forgotten.

It wasn’t until the third Christmas that he found out the answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There! I did it! Second chapter is up. Finally got myself to stop overthinking it (imposter syndrome is so real, guys. SO. REAL.) and just post it. Hope you enjoyed it because we still have two more Christmases to go!


	3. The Third Christmas

  
Looking back, now, long after the fact, Cole can put all the pieces of the puzzle together, and see what was going on clearly. But at the time, they were just little flashes of light in a dark room, letting you catch glimpses of a mirror here or a statue on a mantle there, but never quite showing you the whole thing.

That’s why it took another full year until they were celebrating the third Christmas since they’d met, for Cole to figure out what had changed during that second Christmas.

Because that was the year that Cole went home with Kevin for the holidays. 

Apparently, while Cole had been agonizing for months about whether he could call Kevin his boyfriend or not—it was still new and felt fragile enough that they hadn’t really put any kind of labels on it yet, though, honestly, labels weren’t really appearing to be all that necessary, considering all their classmates and neighbors all seemed to think that they’d been together since freshman year. And that included the little old lady who lived down the hall, who was basically blind and mostly deaf, but who kept inviting them over for dinner. And honestly, Cole wouldn’t have been willing to go over as often as they did, due to the fact that the sweet little old lady had apparently murdered her abusive husband and buried him piece by piece in the flower pots she kept on the balcony. Cole knew this because the man in question seemed to spend most of his time in the afterlife yelling at her for it. But the murderous little octogenarian honestly made the most amazing meatballs either of them had ever eaten, and Cole had years of practice at schooling his face so that the ghosts didn’t immediately notice he could see them, so he was willing to put up with it—or if he was rushing headlong into things Kevin wasn’t ready for.

He needn't have worried though, because while Cole had been agonizing about how to ask his best friend if they were boyfriends now, Kevin had been going around telling every single member of his family who’d listen to him that Cole was his boyfriend, and that they were in a relationship and that it was _awesome_.

Cole had met Kevin’s family more than once by the time he first set foot in Kevin’s house—and man, what a house that was. Cole was pretty sure there were more rooms in that place than in the entire apartment block he’d grown up in back in Philadelphia—but even the crush of people he’d met whenever they were in town and dropped by the apartment to see Kevin—and, by extension, Cole—nothing in his entire life had prepared him for the sheer chaos of the McCallister clan during Christmas. He’d spent more than a few hours over the past few years wondering exactly _how_ a child could be left behind on a vacation, but seeing how pandemonium seemed to take living form in that house, Cole had to stifle a laugh.

Kevin poked an elbow into his side, raising an eyebrow at him, as he balanced a too-full wine glass in the other, but Cole just shook his head with a smile and accepted the glass when he realized it was for him. “Nothing,” he said. “I just finally get it.”

He’d barely gotten in the front door before he was dragged back outside to meet the neighbors, and Buzz, Kevin’s slightly frightening older brother who reminded Cole a little bit too much of the bullies who’d messed with him when he was little, had wrapped a beefy arm around his shoulders introducing him as Kevin’s boyfriend, without a single scowl or glare. Toward Cole, at least. Buzz had more than a few of them for Kevin himself, but Kevin laughed them off, snapping back with something that Cole didn’t really understand but that clearly Buzz did, because he scowled, opening his mouth to reply, only to be cut off by Kevin’s mom yelling out the front door that Cole’s mother was on the phone and wanted to wish him a Merry Christmas. 

“Talk to you later, Buzz,” Kevin said, tugging Cole away from him and wrapping his own arm around his shoulders, steering him toward the house before the inevitable wrestling match could begin. 

“Cole’s too good for you, you know that, right?” Buzz called after him. Cole could feel his face start to heat. But any denial he might have had died on his lips when Kevin smiled at him, murmured “yeah,” tugging Cole into his side and rubbing his scruffy cheek against Cole’s hair. “I know it.”

So everything had been going fine. It’d been going _amazingly,_ actually. So it was a bit of a surprise that it was also the year that Cole figured out _exactly_ what had changed the year previous. 

Because that was the year that Cole met Harry and Marv. 

Or what was left of them, anyway.

Cole didn’t recognize them at first. In fact, when he saw them out of the corner of his eye, they didn’t even ping his radar. He didn’t even think about the extra people he saw milling about in the crowd of McCallister's. Even when Kevin’s dad complained about the cold and how they needed to call someone in to look at the furnace because it clearly wasn’t working right. Or the fact that, dressed like they were, they clearly didn’t fit in with the rest of the holiday revelers. 

It took until the middle of the night, when he was curled up in the hide-a-bed in the attic with Kevin, falling headfirst into a well-deserved sleep after the most social day he’d ever had in his life, for Cole to realize something was amiss. That was when he heard them. The whispers. Well, no, that wasn’t right. 

He heard the muttering first. 

It was a testament to the vigorous training he’d put himself through during his adolescence that he hadn’t reacted. Not any further than opening his eyes, anyway. And even then, he’d kept them half-lidded. He didn’t jerk. He didn’t yell. He didn’t say a word. And considering he’d woken up to two very angry-looking ghosts standing by the edge of his bed, Cole thought he did a pretty good job at keeping his cool.

Not reacting to all the hateful words and the graphic descriptions of how they plotted his boyfriend's demise, well, that had been a little more difficult. But Cole was basically a professional at this point. And it was a good thing, too, because ghosts that were this angry? They were pretty much impossible to deal with peacefully. And since he really wasn’t planning on helping them kill Kevin, well… he was going to have to figure out how to get rid of them some other way.

It took basically the entire holiday trip for Cole to piece together what must have happened. And then it took well into the new year for Cole to figure out exactly how he felt about this.

Because as far as he could tell, the two ghosts haunting the McCallister house were those exact same criminals that Kevin’s entire true crime obsession had been laser-focused on. And equally as apparently, Kevin had killed them. 

Cole hesitated to use the word murder, partially because he really, _really_ didn’t want to think of his boyfriend as a murderer, but mostly because the word just didn’t seem to fit. Especially since the two ghosts kept talking about traps, about nails and paint and glue, about how they were going to kill Kevin, bite his fingers off, bury him where no one would ever find his body and a thousand other things that didn’t really make a whole lot of sense. 

But… no matter how he tried to spin it in his mind, the thought of Kevin as a murderer didn’t make sense. Cole had seen ghosts around their killers before. And while, yes, many of them were angry, there was always a specific feeling that murderers gave off in response, as if they somehow knew the ghosts of their victims were there. An energy. A darkness. A smugness. A malice. They all had it. Even their sweet little old meatball-making neighbor had it. But there was none of that in Kevin. 

Oh, there was a smugness to Kevin, sure. But that was just what came up naturally when he managed to sneak up on his sister Linny and dump a mittful of snow down the back of her coat, only for their mother to tell her to stop hitting her brother when she stepped out on the front step two minutes later to see what all the commotion was about. The maliciousness in Kevin was there, too, but it was minor and almost solely focused on his ability to gift Buzz's children with the loudest, most annoying treasures that could possibly be found in the toy store. But darkness? That didn’t exist in Kevin. It just… didn’t. Kevin was joy and light and goodness. He was protection.

And that, Cole realized, when they were back in their own apartment, cuddled together in their own bed after Kevin had set the burglar alarm and slid back between the sheets to join Cole. 

Protective. 

Protection.

Traps. 

That’s when it started to make sense, and for the first time since Cole had seen the two men—Harry and Marv, he’d later learn their names were, sneakily looking them up on the computer in the library so that Kevin wouldn’t see him looking into it, only to find that they’d escaped from prison a few weeks before that second Christmas, and were still at large and considered dangerous—Cole felt like he could finally exhale. 

Because Kevin wouldn’t hurt anyone. 

Not unless they were trying to hurt him first. 

“Hey,” Kevin murmured, his voice a haze of sleep as he reached out, running his palm up and down Cole’s arm, warming him. “You good?”  
Cole blew out the breath he felt like he’d been holding ever since he saw the two men standing over the hide-a-bed in the attic, and leaned into the touch. 

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m good.”

And he was. He _was._ Except he still had a secret. And even though he now knew Kevin’s, he didn’t know how to tell him _his_. 

He’d spent months afterward trying to figure out how to tell Kevin not only that he knew but how he knew. 

Should he just say it? Write it in a letter? Or should he just wait for one of those Sundays where Kevin would just laze around, smoking a joint and watching old gangster movies while eating his weight in ice cream? He could do that, wait until Kevin was nice and relaxed and zenned-out, and then… what? Just blurt out “hey babe I know you’re a murderer and I know because I can see ghosts and your victims hang out at your parents' house. And that’s maybe possibly why I didn’t want to go visit them with you last month.”

But no. Cole didn’t do that either. Because it wasn’t the right time. He only had one chance to get this right, to get everything out in the open, no more secrets between them. And the thought of messing it up scared the hell out of him. 

It wasn’t until the fourth Christmas that he got his chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, thank you everyone! I'm so happy you're enjoying this little fic. 
> 
> Just one more chapter to go!


	4. The Fourth Christmas (part one)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, it turns out the fourth Christmas was a lot longer than I thought. So I decided to split it into two parts because otherwise, it would probably be another few days before I could get the whole thing up. I hope that's okay with everyone, and I hope this last Christmas still makes sense in two parts. 
> 
> Um... before you start reading this though, I urge you to read the tags. Just so you remember what you're getting into here. 
> 
> Done? Okay, you may proceed.

The fourth Christmas found Cole in New York. Because in the McCallister family, Christmas meant _vacations_. 

Apparently, the only reason the family had held their holiday celebration at home the year previous was that Kevin had planned on bringing Cole home to meet them all, and had through either sheer force of will or some kind of dark magic--Cole wasn’t sure which-- _had_ managed to convince them that the combination of _travel_ and _meeting the entire McCallister clan_ would be a little too much for Cole to handle right out of the gate. Which, in hindsight, was correct. Though, of course, that had been slightly hindered due to the whole finding-out-your-boyfriend-is-a-killer thing, and the oh-by-the-way-I-can’t-help-but-notice-your-house-is-haunted thing. But Cole was willing to give Kevin a pass on that. He’d tried his best to ease Cole into the whole McCallister hurricane, and for that Cole was eternally grateful. 

But that meant that now, one year later, he was in New York City for the first time in his life, staying with WAY too many of Kevin’s relatives, in a hotel room that probably cost more than his college tuition. He’d had a slight panic attack over how he could possibly pay his fair share, but the family had just waved his worries off when he tried to bring them up. Because apparently, Kevin’s family had some kind of agreement with the Plaza Hotel. And by agreement, Cole was eventually able to wheedle out of Kevin, they meant that they got to stay there pretty much whenever they wanted. 

For free.

To be honest, Cole still didn’t quite understand it. When Kevin’s parents had brought it up over Thanksgiving (which was when the location of the McCallister holiday trip was decided every year, apparently) and had smilingly waved away his worries. So Cole had tugged Kevin off into a back corner and had tried to puzzle out what was going on in the most subtle way possible. The operative word being _tried_. Judging by the look on Kevin’s face, Cole had imbibed a few too many glasses of wine to achieve the level of subtle that he had been aiming for. In his defense, he’d tried his best to err on the side of polite instead of the more natural What the Hell?--because Cole wasn’t an idiot and New York was _expensive_ and why was a hotel just giving stays away for free and oh god is my boyfriend’s dad in the mob or something?--but the wine betrayed him and he’d apparently done less internal monologing and more word vomiting. 

Luckily for Cole, he’d done it relatively quietly and none of the other McCallisters had overheard him. 

Unluckily for Cole, his boyfriend, who he loved dearly, was a bit of an asshole, and Kevin ruined it all by bursting out laughing. In fact, he hooted so hard that the entire McCallister clan had suddenly stopped talking mid-plan, and had whipped around to face him. And by virtue of where he was standing, Cole as well.

“I’ll tell you later,” Kevin had said when he got his breathing back under control. 

But _later_ somehow ended up being _never_. Because although Cole had had the best of intentions when it came to asking Kevin again that night when they went up to bed--mercifully in the attic again, and not in Kevin’s bedroom, which shared a wall with the guest room that was currently housing his cousin Fuller and his girlfriend—oh, wait, fiancee—who apparently had no qualms about celebrating their engagement loudly and vigorously in the middle of the night. Cole had no issue with Fuller, and Fuller’s fiancee Rachel was super nice in the way that none of the girls he’d grown up with had been. And honestly, he wished them both all the happiness in the world. But he really didn’t need to hear that. Even the ghosts of Kevin’s victims muttering and plotting his doom all night was better than _that_. Kevin’s passel of nieces and nephews were staying in his room instead, and apparently, they were young enough that they believed Fuller when he answered “jumping jacks” to their questions about the noises coming from the room in the middle of the night, which was another small mercy that Cole was never, ever going to take for granted--but when they’d gotten upstairs and closed the door behind them, Kevin’s hands were already starting to snake their way beneath the hem of Cole’s sweater, and he’d started whispering things in Cole’s ear, his breath hot and wet against his throat, and Cole forgot all about it.

So here he was, on Christmas Eve in the middle of New York City, on an all-expenses-paid vacation—Kevin had wanted to pay for his ticket, and being a college student on a scholarship didn’t leave a lot of room for extras, no matter how much Kevin gave him a deal on his share of the rent for their apartment, so, yeah—with no idea of what was going on behind the curtain.

His life had taken a strange turn somewhere, and if HE was saying that, well…

He shook his head, trying to clear it, and when he did he noticed Kevin smirking at him, raising one hand slowly up and down in front of his face, palm-out.

“Earth to Cole,” Kevin said, his voice purposefully muzzy and out of focus. “Come in Cole.”

“Sorry,” Cole said, a smile already pulling on his lips. God, he’d never been around anyone like Kevin. Someone who teased him without being mean. After growing up with Tommy Tommasino and his little gang of lackeys, Cole had wondered for a long time if friends were a real thing that people had. Real friends, not people that make fun of you or did things to just make your life harder. 

Telling Kevin that he never really had friends growing up had been hard. Terrifying, really. One of the scariest things he’d ever done, back when they had first moved into the apartment. But even then, lounging in their new living room, drunk on ill-gotten beers and feeling looser than he’d ever felt in his entire life, Cole had desperately wanted to express to Kevin just how much their friendship meant to him. The thought that opening himself up like that, admitting how lonely he’d always been, would make Kevin suddenly realize what a freak he was, had haunted him for ages beforehand.

Kevin, though. Kevin had just laughed and burrowed his scruffy face into one of the throw pillows on the couch, his glasses all crooked and sitting askew. Cole had struggled, fighting a nearly-losing battle with the tangle of his blankets he’d wound himself into on the easy chair, before managing to finally, victoriously, stand up all by himself. Then he’d reached out and pulled the glasses gently off of Kevin’s face, turning and setting them on the side table before plopping right back down in his chair and twisting back around to look at Kevin. Kevin had just looked at Cole, a strange look on his face like Cole was some kind of puzzle he just couldn’t quite figure out. But before Cole had gotten up the nerve to ask what was wrong, a wide smile had spread across Kevin’s face and he’d closed his eyes, burrowing deeper into his pillow. 

Then he’d whispered to him that he’d never really had a lot of friends either. And then, between one breath and the next, he’d fallen asleep.

The next morning, Cole had been embarrassed. He’d half wished that he hadn’t said anything, but then Kevin had said something offhand as he’d dragged himself back to his bedroom--which was now, years later, _their_ bedroom--to get dressed, ready to go bounding into their kitchen to make breakfast—a thought that scared Cole a little bit. The results of Kevin’s attempts to cook were extremely varied in taste and smell, as well as in general safety—and had said something about making his best friend waffles.

The waffles had been terrible, what was left of them after they’d managed to put out the blaze—thank god for fire extinguishers—but the words stuck with Cole long after. 

He hadn’t really believed Kevin about not having any friends, not then at least. But the longer they were together, the closer they became, the more Cole realized that it had to be true. After all, as much as Kevin liked to talk—at length, about pretty much anything—none of his stories about his childhood ever seemed to involve any characters outside of his family. 

“I only ever had two friends, really,” Kevin had told him months later, picking up their long-abandoned conversation like it was nothing. But then he got a far-away look in his eyes and had trailed off into silence. And Cole hadn’t wanted to push. The moment had broken before he could figure out what to say, anyway, and then Kevin had nudged him with his shoulder and had said “except you”.

And that, it seemed, was that.

“C’mon, Cole,” Kevin said, reaching out and throwing an arm around his shoulders, frog-marching him toward the subway. “I have something to show you.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.” A slow, mischievous smile spread across Kevin’s face, wrinkling the corners of his eyes. “And you’re going to love it.”

And Cole did. He loved it. 

He didn’t even know trees could get that big. 

The display at Rockefeller Center was something else. The giant Christmas tree decked out to the nines with lights and ornaments. The skating rink. The lights. The decorations. The little carts that sold coffee and hot chocolate. 

It was like being in a dream.

And Cole never wanted to wake up.

The Christmases he’d had growing up had been small, especially after his dad had left. Oh, his mom tried to make them special, had put up the lights and a little tree, but nothing had ever prepared him for this.

And Kevin? Kevin was in his element.

Christmas was a very _big deal_ to Kevin. But of course, Cole knew that. He’d learned that almost immediately.

Kevin _loved_ Christmas.

_Loved it_.

And when he was with Kevin, Cole loved it too.

  
  


They were walking back to the hotel when it happened. 

Now, over the years, Cole had managed to get very good at keeping his secret. And even though a big part of him wanted to share the fact that he could see the dead with Kevin, that didn’t negate the fact that he’d been practicing for over a decade to never let it show that he could. So when he saw someone covered in blood, or with their head bashed in, or who was glaring at someone a little too hard, Cole had just learned to ignore it. Because it was one thing to help ghosts deal with their final business on a one-on-one basis--preferably in private where no one ever saw him talking to thin air--it was a very different thing if he attracted their attention in public. Because ghosts really _really_ didn’t like being ignored. So he just pretended he couldn’t see them, and in turn, they never noticed him. It solved ninety-nine percent of the problem. 

The last one percent, however…

“Oh, excuse me,” Cole said, dodging an oncoming pedestrian a little too wide and nearly tripping over a woman sitting on the sidewalk, half-hidden in the shadows. It was a reflex, born of politeness and bone-deep kindness, and in any other circumstance, apologizing would have been the right thing to do. 

But then the woman’s head snapped up so fast it was almost violent, and Kevin had chuckled next to him, reaching out and wrapping an arm around Cole’s shoulders once more. 

“So polite,” he murmured in Cole’s ear. “I’m sure the fire hydrant really appreciated your apology there, babe.” And that’s when Cole felt it. The cold. Kevin’s eyes narrowed as Cole shivered, his breath fogging out in front of him. “You okay Cole?” Kevin asked, his brow furrowing. “You look cold.”

And… crap.

Crap crap crap.

Cole told himself not to turn around. Not to confirm what he already knew to be true. But as they turned the corner, something came over him, and he snuck a look behind him. 

The woman was following him. Following _them_.

Crap.

Double crap.

He’d been trying so hard to figure out how to break the whole ghost thing to Kevin gently for years now, since before they even got together. And though he hadn’t come up with the perfect solution yet, somehow Cole was pretty sure that being accosted by a ghost in the middle of New York City was probably not the best way to go about it. Not if he wanted to get through the experience _without_ Kevin thinking he was certifiably insane.

He couldn’t do this. Not now. Not on Christmas. 

So instead he squared his shoulders and tried to hurry his footsteps as Kevin tugged him around another corner and across a crosswalk. They were just about to duck into the park—Kevin swearing up and down that he knew a shortcut through Central Park—when he heard it. The voice.

“Excuse me?”

Cole gritted his teeth, squeezing his eyes shut for a few steps, trying to force himself to ignore it. And normally he could have. He _would_ have. But the voice hadn’t been what he’d expected. It was softer. Gentler. _Kinder_.

“Excuse me?”

They were far enough into the park now that they were more or less out of sight from the rest of the pedestrians, and even then, since he was with Kevin and he wasn’t ready--was so _not_ ready--to share his secret, even the sound of her voice probably wouldn’t have made him stop. But then the ghost, the woman, said the _one thing_ that could make Cole stop walking.

“Kevin?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry.


	5. The Fourth Christmas (part two)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did it! I finished it! 
> 
> This was so much fun to write. Again, thanks so much to mia6363 and ReaperSun for the inspiration on this pairing. I love them so much. <3

“Kevin?”

One word. One single word from the dead woman’s mouth and Cole stopped dead in his tracks. Dead stop. So fast that there was no chance for Kevin to slow down at all. He almost caused them to pitch forward together, and Kevin stumbled ahead another few steps, laughing, as he turned back to look at Cole, questions in his eyes. But Cole wasn’t looking at him anymore. He was looking at the woman.

She wore a heavy old coat that was patched in places, and a crumpled-looking felt hat, and she seemed to have more than a few pigeons following after her, swooping in to almost touch her before they fluttered away, back out of reach.

She flicked her gaze between Cole and Kevin, before finally turning back to Cole, tears brimming in her eyes. 

“It’s him,” she murmured, her voice sounding half-strangled. “Isn’t it? The young man you’re with. It’s Kevin.”

“Babe?” Kevin’s voice was tinged with worry, and Cole saw him step closer out of the corner of his eye, even though he couldn’t look away from the woman. “Are you alright? We don’t have to go through the park if you don’t want to. I know it’s dark, but I just thought—”

“Kevin I need to tell you something.” The words were tumbling out of Cole’s mouth before he could stop them, and Cole had a brief glimpse of a smile spreading across the woman’s face before he clamped his eyes shut, squeezing them tight. He didn’t want to see Kevin’s reaction to this. It was hard enough as it was.

“Cole?” He felt Kevin’s hands land gently on his shoulders, his touch warm even through Cole’s coat. “Babe are you okay? What’s wrong?”

“I need to tell you something,” Cole repeated, because what was he supposed to say? Years' worth of practicing how this would go over and over in his head and still, he had nothing. 

There was a long pause where they were both silent, and then Cole felt Kevin take a deep breath and blow it back out. “Are… are you breaking up with me?”

Cole’s eyes snapped open, because _what_? 

In front of him, Kevin had his head bent, looking down at the ground, shifting from foot to foot, but his hands were still on Cole’s shoulders, his thumbs stroking gently at the fabric of his coat as if he not only didn’t want to let go, but he was still trying to comfort _Cole_. 

_Oh, Kevin._

“No! Of course not. Why would you think that?”

“I mean, I know I’m not a great catch. I’ve got a crazy family and some really weird habits and let’s be real my diet is like eighty percent sugar and—”

“Kevin I love you.” Cole reached out, pressing his palms against Kevin’s sides, pulling him in closer until they were sharing breath. “Look at my face, okay? I’m not breaking up with you. I love you so much. You haven’t done anything wrong. _Anything_. You get me?” Cole leaned forward and pressed his forehead to Kevin’s, taking what comfort he could in this tiny embrace. “I don’t want to break up with you.”

But that didn’t mean that Kevin wouldn’t want to break up with _him_ as soon as he said what he was going to say next.

He blew out a long breath to steady himself, and opened his eyes again, looking up into Kevin’s face. His brow was furrowed, his eyes narrowed behind his glasses. 

“Then what’s wrong?”

He could just not say anything, Cole knew. He could just pretend he’d forgotten Kevin’s Christmas gift at home or something. Admit something fake and tell him that he’d been afraid to tell him, but… 

But the woman was still standing there, a sad look on her face. A dead woman who had unfinished business. Unfinished business that had something to do with Kevin. Because why else would she have followed them here? The dead didn’t really deal with people if it didn’t have to do with their final business. And to pretend that he couldn’t help her, well... that would just be cruel.

He had to do this. He _had_ to.

Cole groaned. He did _not_ want to do this. “This is going to sound insane.”

Kevin laughed softly, leaning back into him. “Lay it on me,” he said, letting his hands fall down until he had his arms wrapped around Cole. “I’m down for anything insane that has to do with you, man. You should know that by now.”

Well, that was nice and all, but there was Kevin’s brand of insane, and then there was _Cole's_. And Kevin didn’t know it but Cole’s level of insanity was way higher than Kevin’s would ever be and—

“I can see dead people.”

There was a long pause, and then finally, finally Kevin said “what.”

And then, before Cole could stop it, the words were tumbling out of him like marbles down a staircase. Once they got going they just rained down and there was nothing he could do to slow them down, let alone stop them.

“I can see dead people and there are ghosts everywhere and usually I can pretend I can’t see them and they leave me alone, but on the sidewalk, I almost stepped on one because I didn’t realize she wasn’t alive and now she’s following us and I think she knows you and I really didn’t want to tell you like this but I could never think of a good enough way and—”

“A ghost followed us into Central Park.”

Cole took a deep breath, lungs aching. And he nodded.

“Babe…” Kevin trailed off, and Cole could see the hesitation behind his eyes, that strange kind of fear that he’d seen in his own mother’s eyes when he’d told her about what he could do, that fear that something was wrong with him, that he was sick in the head, because _what else could it be?_ And oh, man, he didn’t want to tell Kevin about it this way either, but…

“I know about Harry and Marv.”  
  
Kevin froze. Cole could feel the reverberations of it in his entire body. That sudden stop, the shock that must have hit Kevin like a sledgehammer. He felt as Kevin suddenly moved again, his weight shifting back, and Cole gripped his coat, holding him close. _Close close close_. So he couldn’t get away. Not yet. Not until Cole could explain.

“I don’t know why you did it, but I know you probably had a _really_ good reason. But they're _super_ mad about it and they’re haunting your parents' house, and they keep saying something about paint cans and doorknobs and honestly, I’ve wanted to tell you for a while because they’re awful and annoying and as soon as your family is out of the house for long enough I think we need to move their bodies because hopefully, that’ll make them leave because they keep me up at night when we’re staying there.”

Kevin stared at him. Then he blinked. 

Then he blinked again.

He opened his mouth. 

Closed it.

And stared.

Cole groaned and let himself fall forward, burying his face in Kevin’s shoulder. 

And then slowly, so slowly, he felt Kevin’s arms come up around him, folding him into a hug.

“I’ve gotta say,” Kevin murmured against Cole’s hair. “You’re taking the news that I murdered two people really _really_ well.”

Cole choked out a laugh that sounded more like a sob, muffled in the wool of Kevin’s coat. He pulled back and scrubbed a hand over his face, wiping away the tears before they could fall. “I’ve been considering it _creative self-defense_ if I’m being honest.”

Kevin snorted and pressed a kiss to Cole’s temple.

“You are so weird, Cole Sear,” Kevin murmured. “I love you so much.”

“So... do you believe me?” Cole was almost afraid to hope, but--  
  
“I don’t know how you knew all that, but—”

Cole shook his head, pulling back before Kevin could continue. Because Kevin had to believe him. He _had_ to.  
  
He turned back to the ghost. 

“What’s your name?” He asked her. His voice was squeaky. Strangled. Frantic. And he hated it. He hated it so much but he needed to do this. It was his only chance.  
  
“Cole…” Kevin trailed off. “Babe it’s okay…”

But he had to know, he had to know what she wanted. Because then maybe Kevin would believe him, really _believe_ him.  
  
But she just shook her head. “I don’t think I ever told him,” she said, her voice sad. Cole’s heart dropped.

But then, like a miracle, she continued. 

“Turtle Doves.”

“What?”

She smiled softly. “Tell Kevin it’s about the Turtle Doves.”  
  
So Cole turned back to Kevin, and he did.

Kevin’s eyes widened.

And then, after what felt like a thousand years, he started to smile.

Apparently, even if the fact that Cole knew about Harry and Marv hadn’t been enough proof, the story about the pigeon lady and the Turtle Dove Christmas ornament was more than enough to convince Kevin that Cole was telling the truth. And that’s how they ended up traipsing through the forest in Central Park in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve, following a ghost to her secret hiding spot. 

Along the way Kevin told him about the pigeon lady, one of the only real friends he’d ever had, before he’d met Cole, of course, and how she’d helped save him from Harry and Marv when he’d ended up lost in New York City one Christmas. How he’d received the turtle dove ornaments from the owner of the toy store as a gift, and how he’d given her one so they’d always remember each other, only to arrive home and realize that he’d never even learned her name. 

He’d looked for her, he told Cole. The next time he’d visited New York he looked for her all over the place, but he’d never found her. It became a kind of tradition after that, whenever he was in the city, he’d always keep an eye out for his old friend, the one he’d gifted the turtle dove. But he’d never found her, and it appeared that they now knew why.

Because she’d passed away. 

She didn’t go into details, but Cole had been around enough dead people to know that she’d at least gone peacefully, even if she did have some unfinished business. And Cole took a rare delight in getting to act as a kind of go-between as Kevin and the pigeon lady chatted and caught up with one another as she led them through the forest to a very special tree.  
  
She was already beginning to fade as she showed them where to dig.

“Tell Kevin thank you,” she whispered in Cole’s ear as Kevin unburied the little tin and pulled the turtle dove ornament from its shadowy depths. “Thank you and good luck.” She took a step back. “And Merry Christmas.”

And then, before his eyes, she disappeared.

“She’s gone, isn’t she?” Kevin asked, dusting the dirt and snow from the knees of his jeans and pulling himself into a standing position. Cole nodded. Kevin walked over and wrapped an arm around Cole’s shoulders and Cole leaned into him, gratitude and relief rushing through him in such a wave that he felt like he would exhaust himself just trying to keep his head above water.

“What did she say?”

“Merry Christmas. Thank you. And good luck.” To his surprise, Cole felt Kevin freeze up as he uttered the last words, and he turned to look at his boyfriend, brow furrowing. “Kevin? Are you okay?”

Kevin took a deep breath and then chuckled under his breath.

“Kevin?”

“Oh man,” Kevin laughed to himself, shaking his head. “What an act to follow.”  
  
Then he took Cole’s hand in his and pressed the turtle dove ornament into his gloved palm. “This is yours now, Cole. Okay? No matter what. So you’ll never forget me.”

“Forget you? Kevin—”

But then Kevin took a step back, releasing Cole’s hand, and Cole watched as his boyfriend—the best friend he’d ever had—sank down to one knee, and reached into his pocket.

“I know for Christmas it’s supposed to be five golden rings,” Kevin said, gazing up at Cole with all the hope in the world shining in his eyes as he held something out for Cole to see. “But I only have one. I hope that’s enough.”

And with tears shining in his eyes, his heart hammering in his chest, Cole nodded and reached out for it with his free hand.

“It’s more than enough,” Cole replied.

And it was.

The next morning found them waking up in a hotel suite that probably cost more in a night than their apartment cost in a month, the chaotic sound of Kevin’s family clambering around the Christmas tree on the other side of the door. Cole turned in Kevin’s arms and felt Kevin press a kiss to his forehead in return. 

“Merry Christmas Kevin,” Cole murmured, leaning into his warmth.

A smile that shone like the sun spread across Kevin’s face. “Merry Christmas Cole.”

There was a crash on the other side of their door, and a chorus of groans and yelling, and Kevin laughed, leaning back into the pile of pillows, tugging Cole along with him. “Sounds like the chaos has already started. Just another Christmas with the McCallister clan.”

“You know you love it,” Cole replied, snuggling in further. He wasn’t ready to leave their bed. Not yet.  
  
“Well,” Kevin said, his voice half-teasing. “It _is_ my favorite time of the year.”

“You really love Christmas.”  
  
“Mmm…” Kevin hummed, letting his eyes fall closed once more. “I really, _really_ do.”

Cole turned in Kevin’s arms, tapping a gentle finger against Kevin’s bare chest. “Just don’t forget…”

“What?” Kevin’s voice was getting deep now. Sleepy.

“When we get back to your parents' house…”

“Yeah?”

Cole let Kevin almost fall back asleep for he continued, a grin pulling at his cheeks so hard they were aching. “We need to move the bodies.”

There was a pause long enough that Cole started to wonder if Kevin had actually fallen asleep, but then…

“Crap.”

Cole burst out laughing as Kevin let out a groan and threw an arm over his eyes hiding from the daylight. “I forgot about that.”

Then, slowly, Kevin pulled his arm back and cracked an eye open, meeting Cole’s gaze. They looked at one another for a long moment, and then, all at once, they both burst out laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cole: So how are we going to deal with the ghost problem? It’s not like we can just tell your family to get out of the house long enough for us to dig them out of the floor. 
> 
> Kevin, smiling deviously: don’t worry, I’ve got a plan.
> 
> yeah... it's possible I might be working on a small snippet of them dealing with the bodies of Harry and Marv as an itty-bitty sequel. Nowhere near as long as this, but... yeah. 
> 
> Thanks so much to everyone for reading! I hope you liked it!


End file.
